What is a periodical? A journal? A magazine?

• There are slight differences in their meanings, but for most practical purposes, the terms are used interchangeably
• Publications appearing at regular, short intervals
• Contain articles, stories, poems, and essays about a specific subject
• Aimed at a specific age group or at some other grouping determined by the editors

Most important tools for using periodicals are the availability of indexing and abstracting.

• Subject indexes are most useful as opposed to single-volume indexes.
• Grouped into four categories:
  
• General, that includes all relevant journals
• Subject, that are topic specific
• Current, only those of the present year or recent years
• Retrospective, covering a specific period of year.

Abstracts

• Annotates indexes including additional information
• Include all information found in an index plus a brief description or summary of the article
• Enables user to figure out the content of the article without reading it
• Time saver
• Not always accurate; caution is the watchword when using abstracts
• When in question, consult article directly
• Abstracts may be prepared by the author of the article or by someone else who probably works for the publisher or abstracting service

Information as cited in:

Wolf, Carolyn. Basic Library Skills. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland &

Company, 1999.